RESIDENTS, MASINDI-KITARA DIOCESE FIGHT OVER LAND

Tuesday24^th/july/2018

By YosamGucwaki

www.mknewslink.com

In masindi

Residents from six villages on Monday stormed St James Church of Uganda Parish in Katasenywa Cell, Nyangahya Division in Masindi Municipality protesting Masindi-Kitara Diocese estates department’s programme to open land boundaries there.

Speaking to journalists at the scene, Alfred Nyakoojo, one of the affected residents of Byerima cell claimed that the Church of the Province of Uganda allegedly wants to grab their ancestral land.

Other residents vowed not to leave the land in contention saying it was occupied by their parents. They demanded that the church must adduce documented evidence showing who sold that land to the church.

The councillor for Civic Ward in Central Division, Goodman Farouk who is among the affected residents in Byerima cell, appealed to the church to be peaceful and also called upon the government to intervene before the matter goes out of proportion.

However, Rev Elizabeth Nzenze of St James COU denied allegations that the church wrote to the residents informing them of its plans to evict them from the land.

The diocesan estate officer Rev Can Newton Byaruhanga, insisted that the chunk of land belongs to Masindi-Kitara diocese adding that it possesses a free hold land title that was acquired between 1936 and 1940.

 Byaruhanga added that the aim of the church is not to evict people from the land but to open the boundaries for easy identification.

The affected villages occupying the more than 500 hectares of the land in contention include Kiryanga 2, Byerima, Katasenywa, KitalebaRukondwa and Rwabatini.

Source: www.mknewslink.com a greater western Uganda news website
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